Lucy in the Sky with Metal

The latest Circle of Friends project is incorporating Metal into an ATC. The metal could be anything and any amount.

My original idea was to do something with the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz but no matter what I did I couldn't get it to look right. So I decided to play with one of my favorite (and first) stamps.

I black embossed the image onto white card stock and used various shades of blue and purple watercolor to color the image. To add the impression of metal I added glitter to the stars. Other touches of "fake" metal include gold Dresden around the edge and a crown that I painted with gold paint. The actual metal that I used is some wire that I twisted to mimic the swirls of the stamp. I topped them with sequin stars.

The Dresden, crown and sequin stars are all from Alpha Stamps

Shades of Aqua/Turquoise Charms

So far I've played it safe with the new swap group, Marie Antoinette Mail Art aka MAMA, only taking part in swaps that I knew I could do perfectly. Well, one of my friends hosts charm swaps through MAMA I thought, well she'll be honest so if I suck at charms she'll let me know. And I signed up.

I went to the local Bead store and to Michael's to gather all my supplies, everything I got is pictures to the right. I had already put the dragonfly charms together when I took the picture.

Bellow is what I turned all those bits and pieces into.

Upper Left: I used an off white bead, a blue glass flower and some glass leaves to put this charm together. The bead and flower are strung on a head pin and the leaves I used wire to attach them.

Middle: I love this one! I affixed three blue mixed with a brownish tone to the vintage brass leaf chain. I think this one would make a really lovely bracelet all on it's own and may go back to the store and get more.

Upper Right: I had the dragonflies sitting around from a project I never got to. At the same time I had ordered the stone I affixed to the body. It felt like fate played a part in me not using these items until now, so I had to join the swap.

Lower Left: This one is my husband's favorite. Everything is strung onto a headpin, starting with a brass toned bead, the ring with brown toned rhinestones then the turquoise bead, which has a pretty flower on it, topped with a matching ring and bead.

Lower Left: I think this one would make a nice pair of earrings (which probably means it is going to be a lot bigger than the other charms...oh well...sigh) I dangled three strands of aqua beads off of the vintage brass finding.

The requirements of the swap say that each charm needs to be in a bag. I wanted mine to be special and still swap themed so I got some organza bags and stamped a crown on them, adding some aqua glitter to where the stones would be on the crown.

I also attached my charms, using aqua ribbon, to some aqua paper that I stamped with a flourish and highlighted with the same aqua glitter I used on the bag.







I really like the overall effect. I know my charms have some issues, this was my first go at anything like this. There are some crocked rings and some miss twisted wire but all and all I think I did pretty good and know I'll only get better with practice. I of course intend on taking part in more of the charm swaps. I can't wait to get my returns and make something out of them.

Hop Scotch

This week at One Powerful Hour Pauline has selected the theme...

Child's Play

Right now I mainly think of my little girls, one loves dress up and the other is into stacking, but I couldn't think of how to portray either or these. So I went with one of my school yard favorites, Hop Scotch.

I am not really pleased with the outcome of this ATC, it's a little to plain I think. I mounted a decorative paper onto a solid blue, printed the hop Scotch board out on transparency, affixed the little girl (she's from Altered Pages) and added the brads, to look like the stones used in the game.

Next week at One Powerful Hour the theme is A touch of spring. Come play along with us!

Something Sweet

This week over at One Powerful Hour I've selected the theme...

Something Sweet

My favorite thing to do with challenge themes are play on words. There are so many way's this theme can be taken. I decided to do a bit of both...play with the "love" aspect along with the "yummy" aspect.

A few weeks ago Sarah who is the mastermind behind Soul Journaling posted a tutorial for those of us that are members of her yahoo group. I followed her tutorial and came up with this piece.

The background on the heart is entirely covered with glitter...brown and pink. The image is from Altered Pages, the words from Paula's Kit Club and the fork from Alpha Stamps. Other embellishments include the pink German scrap (which was a pain to put on but adds a nice touch), rhinestones and I glittered the image using sticklers glitter glue.

I hope you enjoy!

Bee Mine

I've posted another set of ATC's for the Marie Antoinette Mail Art group. I am simply loving this new group and I'm so glad that they accepted me as a member.

This months ATC theme was a Marie Valentine. I found this image on Etsy from Olgas Designs. It was originally a bookmark but I cut it down to fit. I printed it out twice and used the entire portion as the base of the ATC and then cut out the image of Marie with the yummy cupcake and 3D mounted it.

Next I cut out a strand of the lovely heart ribbon. I got it in a Paula's Kit Club, but alas she is no more, but I'm sure you can find it somewhere else. I know Alpha Stamps carries it in red.

The Bee Hive is from Alpha Stamps. I stamped it on a separate sheet of paper and colored it using colored pencils. Before finishing it I added some pearl ex powder to the hive so it's all sparkly! I then 3D mounted it on top of the Marie image.



The final touches include a heart that I coated in diamond glaze after outlining. A metal Bee that I made look old using a salt and vinegar mixture. The ribbon banner with the phrase "Bee Mine" and a gem on the cake.

This group is way into packaging...and I have received some absolutely fabulous pieces that I didn't even want to open because the packaging on them was so lovely. So I made sure that my Marie's had something a little special about them.

Following the instructions provided by another of the MAMA members I made crepe paper flowers that I added velvet leaves and some gold sprigs to. I affixed these to a soft pink silk ribbon that I tied around the outside of the ATC envelope.






Here is a picture of the back of the ATC all packaged up with the ribbon tied...I am not very good at bows :(

I can't wait to get my exchanges everyone's pieces are always so fabulous. I hope they enjoy mine.

Winter ATC's

It's the last of the Seasonal themed ATC swaps I'm hosting for Alpha Stamps. Very sad that it's coming to an end but so thrilled that I got to be a part of it.

To create this piece I dusted the background paper with blue pearl ex powder (so it's shimmery) and then attached the image. The words say

I was a snowball,
I grew and grew,
Now I am a snowman
How do you do?

Winter is jolly
With ice and snow,
But when it gets warm
I have to go.

I enhanced the jolly snowman with mini buttons and real sticks for arms. Finishing touches are the German Scrap around the edge, diamond glaze on the word Winter, Silver glitter around the quote and a metal snowflake I tied on.






I find the image I used for this ATC simply stunning. It is an old advertisement, I cut the advertisement portion away.

The background was a trial technique from the
Shades of Alchemy Swatchbook by Michael deMeng. I wanted it to have tons of texture and look like ice/snow.

The snowflakes are chipboard that I painted silver and added some shimmer to.

As a finishing touch I added the word snow.









For my third ATC I wanted to add color. I hardly ever work with purple (it's my least favorite color) but I thought I'd give it a go.

To create the background I selected a coordinating purple paper and brushed it with white paint I mixed with a shimmery powder. I then stamped snowflakes using embossing ink and covered them with pearl ex powder, so they shimmer.

I trimmed the image and placed her on the prepared background which I had added the German scrap snowflakes to.

As a finishing touch I affixed some white crepe paper that I brushed pearl ex powder on. And then randomly dotted purple distress glitter all over.

I'm swapping out everyones ATC's this weekend. I hope everyone had as much fun with this project as I did. Enjoy!

All images, German Scrap and many of the charms used on these ATC's can be found at Alpha Stamps

Have Fun & dare to Indulge

This week over at One Powerful Hour I've set the theme of Retro/Pop Art.

I have always been drawn to the bright bold colors and images of Pop Art and there are so many ways to interpret 'retro' that I thought the combo was a good one.

I decided to use an image from a 30's/40's magazine advertisement. I added some elements to her that don't show, her lips are all sparkly. As my backdrop I selected a bright decorative paper and then stamped the little star like things, which seem very retro to me, all over. At their points I added some glitter. To finish it off I added the words, Have Fun, Dare & Indulge, they have diamond glaze over them.

Hopefully everyone has as much fun with this theme as I did.

2011 Calender

Another big Circle of Friends project completed. Alas I am a little upset that I didn't do a better job putting these together and I wanted to have time to decorate the calender pages inside but with the new year approaching it's time to call it quits on these and get them in the mail.

January:

Sandy starts us off with a wonderful blue and silver ATC. Everything on this shimmers, a very exciting way to start the year.

February:

We doubled up on a few months and if a member did more than two months one of the ATC's could be digital. This is my digital piece. The main image is from Alpha Stamps. The birds and the perfume bottle are from various Etsy sellers.

March:

This is my second contribution and I love it. For starters the paper is handmade but then I went and covered it with my favorite lily stamp and bunnies, my favorite thing about Easter. I wanted something non religious for this month.

April:

Sandy's second contribution and I think I love it almost as much as her first. In the upper right hand corner she has a glittered squiggle which alas did not photo but really adds to this ATC.

May:

One of Sandi's pieces. The phrase reads "The way to know life is to love many things." -Vincent Ban Gogh. The paper she used is glittery and with the pearl's this is really a lovely ATC.

June:

Andrea's ATC has a ton of fabulous layers. Over the image that is predominant she has stamped and gold shimmer dusted a grid, it really adds to this ATC. She has also highlighted many of the bee's and some random dots with gold ink.

July:

Sandi's second contribution. I absolutely love this patriotic ATC. The blue frame is all glitter and when she added diamond glaze to the image it blended the blue or red, smoothing it out really making the silouet pop even more.

August:

Janice's very first digital ATC and wow did she outdo herself. The words have a wonderful water/shadow effect. If you look carefully you can see a whale's tale diving into the water.

September:

Janice's second contribution. I really wish you all could see this one in person. The flowers are coming through circular cut outs and the poem is on transparency that is sewn on one side so you can lift the other.

October:

Sarette's contribution. Okay so my camera is not great...the color of this is really a deep brick red. The quote reads "One Falling leaf may herald the coming of autumn." It is a Chinese Proverb and perfect for October since many of us live in states that don't get cold until November.

November:

Kathy put together this ATC for November. It is another one where you really need to see it in person. Everything is shimmery and it's done on water color paper so the paint is really wonderful.

December:

Lynda our newest member did December for us. Each of her's were different, this is the one that I received. I love the hat and the colors all go together so well.

I am so glad that we did this project. This is a great collection of ATC's that I will cherish year in and year out.

Marie Sachets

This year I made sachets for all the women in the family and some other very special friends.

I found the bird themed fabric and was inspired. But first I had to die the bird fabric (it was originally white). I tea died it along with some plain white cotton which I later stamped the Marie image on.

The flowers are very simple and also handmade. I cut 3 different sized circles from a polyester based fabric, then cut slits to emulate petals and finally took a candle and heated the fabric so it melted just a bit forming the natural petal shape. I stacked the 3 circles together and sewed them adding a jem to the inside.

The ribbon along the bottom is also the same as the flowers. I cut a strip, stamping it with french text and butterflies. I sewed this on with three separate lines of stitching that I swerved.

Each sachet is filled to the brim with either lavender (the blue trimmed sachets) or Rose. I really love the way they smell and am very pleased with how they came out. I hope everyone that gets them loves them and gets years and years of yummy smelling lingerie out of them ;)

Marie Stocking

One of my favorite things to do at Christmas Time are Secret Santa swaps. Marie Antoinette Mail Art group did a Secret Santa Stocking Swap.



This is the stocking I made. There were a few restrictions. it could only be Ivory/Cream, Brown, Gold or Silver and it needed to be Marie inspired.



I purchased a pre made stocking (if I ever do something like this again I'll just make the stocking) and tea died it. I also tea died some lace and cotton fabric at the same time.



The main feature on my stocking is the Eiffel tower which I printed on fabric. I added some gold chiffon as a trim and hid the sew line with gold sequins. Yes, I had to hand sew the sequins on.



The flowers are a find. They were in the iron on section at Joanne's. However they are not really iron on's since they too have chiffon on them and it would melt if I used the heat needed to affix these to the stocking. I did use some heat, glue and sewed them on randomly all over the stocking.















The hardest part, but the first thing that came to my mind when designing the stockinng is the cuff. I wanted the layers of chiffon to be a little bit more crinkled/fluffed (more like the way it is around the Eiffel tower) but overall I do like how it turned out.



Each layer is longer than the one above it so the cuff really is quite thick. To hide the sew mark and all the extra fabric I affixed the wonderful gold tree ribbon.



Under the cuff I placed the tea died lace as my final touch. Then all I had to do was fill the stocking. Again there were some limitations, money amount and at least one item needed to be a Marie item.









I decided to make a Marie ornament. However all the images I had were a little large for just one square ornament. When I was playing with placement I realized that the ornament cut off right at her head (how apropriate is that!) So I decided to attach two squares and have her head in one and body in the other.



I trimmed her and affixed her to a lovely cold paper and then added a cup cake, vines and a bit of hair bling before closing it up and adding glitter all around the outside. I also added a fleur de lis and a mini Eiffle Tower. The finishing touch is the ribbon and when you flip it over the same Eiffle tower from above is on it.



Some of the other goodies I put inside are in the image below. I do hope that the person receiving my stocking enjoys it and everything I put inside.